Sunday, 24th of July, 2011

SO MUCH music for you tonight, kidz!
I just managed to fit everything in that I wanted to, but there are some real beauties that arrived this week, which will be reappearing in the next few shows for sure.
LISTEN AGAIN via the link below the playlist, or subscribe to the podcast.

First brilliant release of the week comes from Clams Casino, whose Instrumental Mixtape was a free download earlier this year, is a bedroom producer who made his name making beats (those “instrumentals”) for up-and-coming rappers like Lil B and Souljah Boy. The 5 tracks on this EP expose him as an incredible talent bridging experimental electronic, noise, shoegaze and contemporary hip-hop. It’s released on the Tri-Angle label, home to such “witch house” (or whatever you want to call it) artists as Balam Acab and oOoOO. The boundaries between the white boys in their bedrooms and the “real” hip-hop scene are considerably thinner than they were when Cex and Kid606 were tampering with r’n’b 10 years ago.

Texan producer Botany first came to my attention via a lovely remix of fellow Texans Balmorhea late last year. Western Vinyl have released an EP which, while slightly brighter and bouncier, fits nicely with the spaced-out jams of Clams Casino.

It’s not that far from this US squashed-hop sound to the recent Radiohead remixes. I’m going out on a limb here, but it’s just possible that Caribou’s remix of “Little By Little” is better than the original, with that beautiful harp, bouncy beat and scribbly synth lines.
The Harmonic 313 is different from the original, which I love enough that I won’t declare this remix to be better, but it is also gorgeous.

And speaking of remixes, just in is a promo of Four Tet remixing Tuareg (North Saharan nomads) superstars Tinariwen’s single “Tenere Taqhim Tossam”.

We stick with remixes again with UK genre-crossing band CLOUT!. As we hear afterwards, their music is multifaceted enough on its own, but Kwes [o=o] does nice things with pitched-down vocals and additional chaos.

I first heard Mr Lager on one of the excellent recent Various EPs, so it’s nice to hear him/them/her return with a new single, which is a song, no less. We heard the Distance remix, but the Silkie and Von D are both great too.

And Old Apparatus are perhaps the most interesting group to come out of the dubstep scene in recent years, akin to Various (Production) a few years back, and they’re similarly mixing English folk with dubstep with this impressive new one.

In the wake of the fantastic new 13&god album I played a bunch of The Notwist last week. I took myself back to the compilation that “Scoop” originally came from, and found a lovely remix by English duo Isan, which I thought I should play you tonight.

But the best and most surprising juxtaposition of the week comes from Katie English’s flute and production with Kieron Phelan’s everything else in littlebow. You wouldn’t expect the flute to lead a proggy post-rock rhythm section, or suit an array of folktronic remixes, but this album (with the cutely arch title The Edge Blown Aerophone) takes the instrument to places it’s never been. And we’re not talking the (somewhat) corny folk rock of Ian Anderson in Jethro Tull. Well, not really. This is a marvellous little album, worth seeking out.

Via some blog I discovered this week the Norwegian experimental/drone artist Sjøli. Head over to the linked Bandcamp and grab that EP – for a mere USD$3 you’ll get some stunning sounds, especially the bewitching middle track I played tonight.

Equally awesome — and Australian! — is the new album from y0t0 (aka Year Of The Ox), who is based in Queanbeyan. It’s shortly to be released via Fluid Radio’s digital label fac-ture, and takes you on an epic journey down Uriarra Road. Crackling drones, beautifully-recorded guitar and field recordings are set against various notables remixing the tracks, and it sounds like it’s going to be one of the albums of the year. Pre-order it here.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the week is hearing drone/improv-sters Gareth Davis & Machinefabriek tackling Jazz Standards. I only know one of them, but “My Funny Valentine” is rendered with deep detail and emotion.

Finally, I wanted to cover some of the music by the artists I’m featuring next Saturday night at The Gate Presents (see previous post). I’m very excited to be able to bring three wonderful musicians to this gig. We heard Gail Priest’s processed vocals and guitar, and some sparkling electronic sounds.
From Part Timer we went all the way back to his earliest tracks, when I first became aware of him, at which point he discovered I’d played him and started sending me enormous amounts of amazing music. You can hear how creative he was from the start, and just how accomplished his production has become over the last 6 or so years.Ollie Bown’s release music is mainly through his duo Icarus, one of whose early drum’n’bass workouts closed the show. We also heard the recognizably drum’n’bass pulse of “Gnog”, from further down the track when their interest in free jazz/improv and electro-acoustic music had asserted itself. But Ollie is also a dedicated collaborator and improviser, and the duo track with Tom Arthurs showcases a beatless and beautiful side to his work.

Labels and artists!

email: utilityfog at frogworth dot com
Utility Fog teeters on the cusp between acoustic and electronic, organic and digital. Constantly changing and rearranging, this aural cloud of nanotech consumes genres and spits them out in new forms. Whether cataloguing the jungle resurgence, tracking the ups and downs of noise and drone, or unearthing the remnants of glitch and folktronica, all is contextualised within artist & genre histories for a fulfilling sonic journey.
Since all these genre names are already pretty ridiculous, we thought we'd coin a new one. So "postfolkrocktronica" it is. Wear it.